This had been our year's goal and with Saturdays committed to the boy's marching band competitions and weather getting colder, I was thinking we wouldn't get it in. The pieces fell into place and an unseasonably warm Friday gave us an unbelievable hike up Mt Washington, the highest peak on the northeast @ 6288'. Also the lace where some of the highest wind speeds ever recorded have blown through - 231mph! We only has a breeze of 20mph with some higher gusts now and then. Made for about a 45-50º day at the top - very nice.
It started out with the usual woods trail at about an easy grade before we faced the head wall of Tuckerman's Ravine and the final assent to the peak over a boulder field. Happy to have made it and not added to the list of those that perished on the mountain and in the ravine. More than a few spots where a simple side step was a looooooooong ways down. :shock:
The start:
From the 1/3 way caretaker station:
The headwall we faced climbing:
Looking up at our route:
From atop the ravine. The white spot is the caretaker's cabin.
Looking down the final scramble:
The Cog railway making a decent has been operating since 1869:
Just to prove we were really there:
It started out with the usual woods trail at about an easy grade before we faced the head wall of Tuckerman's Ravine and the final assent to the peak over a boulder field. Happy to have made it and not added to the list of those that perished on the mountain and in the ravine. More than a few spots where a simple side step was a looooooooong ways down. :shock:
The start:
From the 1/3 way caretaker station:
The headwall we faced climbing:
Looking up at our route:
From atop the ravine. The white spot is the caretaker's cabin.
Looking down the final scramble:
The Cog railway making a decent has been operating since 1869:
Just to prove we were really there: